Report: Brian Griese to leave ESPN, Monday Night Football for major career change
Monday Night Football is going to look different next season, with Troy Aikman reportedly joining the broadcast and being the lead color analyst. Last season’s booth of Steve Leevy, Brian Griese, and Louis Riddick will not be returning, with one of them leaving the broadcasting industry as a whole.
According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, Griese will be leaving ESPN for his first-ever coaching job. He will serve as the San Francisco 49ers quarterbacks coach with head coach Kyle Shanahan.
“Former Monday Night Football analyst Brian Griese is leaving ESPN to become the Quarterbacks Coach for the 49ers, sources tell @SethWickersham and me,” Schefter said via Twitter. “Griese and Kyle Shanahan have known each other for years; Griese played QB in Tampa when Shanahan was on the Bucs coaching staff.”
Griese and Shanahan worked together for two seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The former was the starting quarterback with 3,768 yards 27 touchdowns and 19 interceptions. Shanahan worked as an offensive quality control analyst as the Buccaneers made the playoff once during the two-year span.
As to which quarterback Griese will be coaching as the starter in San Francisco is still up in the air. It seems as if Jimmy Garapolo’s time is over and Trey Lance will be taking over. However, the 49ers could work the trade market or free agency as well as they try to get back into the Super Bowl.
Griese will have a ton of work to do in his first year coaching in the NFL.
Troy Aikman reportedly replacing Brian Griese on Monday Night Football
FOX analyst Troy Aikman is reportedly on the move — and it could shake up the NFL media landscape.
Aikman is “on the verge of” leaving to join ESPN’s Monday Night Football, according to the New York Post’s Andrew Marchand. The deal isn’t done yet, but Marchand reported it’s close — and he added it will be a five-year deal and the average salary. That means he likely won’t be making as much as fellow Cowboys great Tony Romo, who signed a 10-year, $180 million deal with CBS in 2017 to work alongside Jim Nantz.
The Dallas Cowboys legend joined FOX in 2001 and is a longtime broadcast partner of play-by-play announcer Joe Buck. Aikman’s name has come up around other NFL media companies, including Amazon, which is working to sign Al Michaels, who’s been the voice of Sunday Night Football since 2006 alongside John Madden and, most recently, Cris Collinsworth.